The mediation process on patent infringement between Apple and Samsung has failed. The legal teams of both companies are now gearing up to try and outwit each other at the trial set to take place next month in the United States.
In January, the iPhone and iPad maker met with the manufacturer of the Galaxy line of gadgets and agreed to enter a mediation in February. The latest court filing has revealed that the talks took place but no settlement could be reached. However, the opposing parties are still willing to hold talks with the mediator before the trial kicks off on March 31.
"The parties attended a full-day negotiation session with the mediator during the first week in February. In attendance for Apple were Tim Cook, Chief Executive Officer; Bruce Sewell,Senior Vice President and General Counsel; Noreen Krall, Vice President and Chief Litigation Counsel; and BJ Watrous, Vice President and Chief IP Counsel," the court filings read.
"In attendance for Samsung were JK Shin, CEO IT and Mobile Communications, Dr. Seung-Ho Ahn, Head of IP Center,SEC, Ken Korea, VP & Head of IP Center, U.S., HK Park, Executive Vice President & ChiefFinancial Officer, Mobile Communications, Injung Lee, Senior Vice President & Head ofLicensing, and James Kwak, Vice President & Head of Licensing for Mobile Communications.The parties did not reach an agreement at that session," the document read.
The note submitted to the court also revealed that representatives from both companies engaged in conference calls, six times for Apple and four times for Samsung, with the mediator but the proposed settlement was not acceptable to both the parties.
The legal battle between Apple and Samsung started when the former sued the latter for copying the design of the iPhone and the iPad on April 2011. The filing covered Samsung products such as the Galaxy S line of smartphones and tablets.
In 2012, a court in California awarded damages of $1.05 billion to Apple for patent infringement. Samsung successfully appealed the ruling and $450 million was slashed off from the original amount determined and ordered by the court.
The March case initially had to deal with more than 25 products and 25 patents. The court has instructed the two parties to limit the scope of the cases, which resulted to a trimmed list of Apple with five patent claims and 10 infringing products against Samsung and Samsung with four patent claims and 10 infringing products against Apple.
The two companies are also battling each other in similar patent cases in different parts of the globe such as the Netherlands, Germany, and Australia.
